Trump administration uses hydrogen peroxide and tiny bubbles against
algae in Reflecting Pool
[June 17, 2026]
KATIE VOGEL and JACQUELYN MARTIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's remodeled Lincoln Memorial
Reflecting Pool with its “American flag blue” bottom has turned
chartreuse from an algal bloom that park service workers struggled to
address Tuesday just days after its more than $14 million renovation.
The Washington Monument is once again visible in the refilled pool, but
Trump's vision of an azure expanse between the D.C. landmarks has been
complicated by the harsh realities of chemistry and biology known to any
backyard pool owner. The work has been confounded by the unique
challenges posed by the scale of the structure, bigger than 10
Olympic-sized pools — which Trump has called a lake — and the source of
its water: the often-fetid Tidal Basin.
Algae has plagued the site since it opened more than 100 years ago, but
Trump set his sights on addressing it as part of his aggressive push to
beautify Washington as the country approaches its 250th anniversary.
Contracts worth at least $14.8 million have been awarded for the
project, announced in April by Trump, who said he was inspired by
complaints from a friend visiting from Germany who called the pool dark
and disgusting.
Teams of National Park Service employees and contractors deployed
chemicals and ozone nanobubbles Tuesday in a bid to keep the algae in
check, not dissimilar from efforts to clean the pool before Trump's
renovation kicked off.
“What do you expect?” asked Cochise Wanzer II, president of the Pool
Service Company in Arlington, Virginia. “You’re basically taking
natural, untreated river water, pumping it in and expecting it to do
something different from what it would do out in the open.”
And the new coat of paint on the bottom of the pool has added an
additional twist to ensuring the cleanliness of one of Washington's most
memorable destinations: “Now that the bottom is nice and dark, it
elevates the temperature and the algae grows better,” said Wanzer.
[to top of second column]
|
The reflecting pool is cleaned of algae, utilizing "ozone nano
bubbles," by National Park Service employees and contractors,
Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in
Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The chemicals and ozone nanobubbles — a water purification treatment
used to avoid some harsh chemicals — were one part of the effort
underway to clean the Reflecting Pool. Workers used a swimming
pool-type vacuum cleaner to suck up algae from the bottom, leaving
behind clean patches of American Flag Blue paint adjacent to
enormous swaths of green algae in a pattern familiar to anyone who
has ever vacuumed a carpet before.
The park service said in a statement it is also using hydrogen
peroxide, a milder treatment than chlorine and one used in spas and
natural swimming pools. “There are no harmful side effects to marine
life or to the environment,” it said.
As the mitigation work continued, a contractor took off his socks
and shoes and rolled up his pants to his knees and proceeded to wade
into the pool to place an ozone nanobubble tube as tourists and
locals milled about on a sunny morning.
Rick and Ariana Pettit, a couple from Las Vegas who are road
tripping in their RV across the United States, posed for photos at
the iconic site of protests and marches as cleaning continued.
Dressed in American flag-themed leggings and a Make America Great
Again leotard, Pettit remarked to her husband, attired in an
“Veteran for Trump” American flag button-up: “Look, it’s already
looking more blue.”
Wanzer was blunt in his assessment of what it would take to maintain
the pool as an algae-free space: “They may want to drain it, hose it
all down, and start from the beginning with fresh water and treat it
as the water comes in.”
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
